Road To Friendship
by irradiation
Summary: Set after RoTF. Bumblebee is on a mission and Sam has a date with Mikaela. He calls on Optimus Prime to help him out. A road to a strong friendship is paved. Rated T to be safe.


AUTHOR's NOTES: First of all, I would like to apologize to all my Star Trek readers about the delay in updates of my story, "Of Steaks, Salads and Medical Checkups." As you can see, I am trying to make a sequel to that, and I have my studies to concentrate on. I had lots of ideas for the ending, but I find it hard to make an ending that actually sets up the sequel. I promise that the sequel will be filled with both major angst and major comedy, which would make it more enjoyable.

Ok, so I am back to my roots. Ironhide was my favorite, but my first favorite was Optimus. There was little Sam/Optimus interaction in the film and there were only a handful of fanfics to remedy this situation so I made my own. I plan on turning this into a series of oneshots if I get enough reviews. Please review and rate! Reviews make me happy! If you want, you can subscribe to me or to this story, or add it to your list of fanfics, or list this as a favorite.

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Sam drowsily reached out and pressed the snooze button on his alarm clock, groaning for a few more minutes of precious sleep and relaxation before the biggest day of his life. He was tired and exhausted after the events at Egypt, and the government decided to be inconsiderate by not even excusing them even for a single day. Thankfully, they didn't have classes for that particular day. He finally found the strength to wake up and go to the bathroom for a simple shower.

After some unfortunate incident with a bottle of Leo's Minty Fresh shampoo that toppled and spilled on the floor and the wet floor as the culprits, he opened the window and took in some of the fresh morning air. Birds flew in a cloudless blue sky, the sun casting its very bright yellow light upon the world. He wondered what would happen if Optimus didn't blow that dangerous, sun-destroying contraption up, along with the top part of the pyramid.

UNESCO would be pretty mad.

But there is no time for Sam to waste in reminiscing the past. He had to prepare for a date with Mikaela, a date which was a crucial part in Sam's "Get the Girl Interested First then Do the Formalities Later" plan.

Leo had left early, taking Sideswipe with him. Thankfully, he did his tasks and left Sam some breakfast in the fridge, and accomplished a schedule for Sam to follow that day. He was thankful for getting a good roommate, albeit a clumsy and cowardly one. He quickly ate his breakfast, browsing through all the messages he had using Leo's laptop. Suddenly, his face paled and a look of horror passed through him.

"Sam, we got sidetracked. We're going to be delayed. Sorry. -BB"

Bumblebee was with Ironhide, Jolt and the others hunting for Decepticons in a different part of the world. Ratchet was busy treating the Arcees, Sideswipe was with Leo and the twins were on duty at NEST Diego Garcia.

Where was Optimus?

He quickly rifled through his planner to double-check, to know if Optimus had something important to do today. As far as he knew, Optimus was still on leave to recuperate from the damage he received at Egypt. He checked if Optimus was on IM, quickly sifting through his mile-long list of contacts, mostly filled with his co-eds.

Bingo. He opened a chat window and quickly typed a message.

"Optimus, I really need your help. Can you come to the dorm ASAP?"

Sam went in front of a mirror and started to do his hair the best way he can. He took out his old jacket from Mission City, and some new clothes, and started to dress up.

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The shiny coating on the semi's blue and red paint job looked better than in Egypt, where it was dented and made non-shiny by the sand and Decepticons. The dents actually looked nonexistent where Sam stood, waiting. He carried with him his Mission City jacket, and his planner, in which lay different receipts and reservations. He watched as a holomatter avatar of Optimus emerged from the driver's side and went up to him.

Optimus' holomatter avatar had been wearing some rugged clothes that made him look like a hybrid of Indiana Jones and a businessman, with a style that was both tough and formal. He wore a red polo shirt, with blue jeans and a cowboy-style hat, but he had a clean face, a good-looking mustache and a smile that was both very friendly and professional. Sam found the smile pretty good and very pleasant to see.

Sam ran towards Optimus. "Sam, what is your problem? Did you encounter a Decepticon?"

He suddenly dragged Optimus' avatar to the truck. "I'll tell you the details later. For now, we are in a big hurry, because don't want to be behind schedule." He entered the passenger side of the cab and Optimus' holomatter avatar entered the driver's side. The truck moved out of the campus and onto the road. Optimus' holomatter avatar vaporized, leaving Sam to talk with the truck, because maintaining it was pretty draining for Optimus, who had some major energon loss at the forest battle.

"So, Optimus, I have a date with Mikaela today. Bumblebee is gone, and I need your help. I won't look as impressive to his father when I get her without a car." Sam narrated his problem, pretty enthusiastic that his robot friend could help.

"I will try to help you in every way I can." Optimus said, in his normally calm voice. Sam breathed a sigh of relief, since his problem had been fixed. "Now, for the other details," said Sam, as he gave the address of his first destination to Optimus, who quickly changed course and took the fastest route available.

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Sam had not encountered any problems getting the flowers, the food and the gift that he had reserved, except for some stares he received every time he entered the semi's cab. He took over driving as the passenger seat was filled with all the things necessary for his date, and he had nowhere to sit, except the space where Mikaela was going to be seated, which he had left clean. He drove to the car wash, his last stop, because due to all the detours Optimus took, the shine his paint job had was replaced by some dirty stuff including, but not limited to mud and dust. It was not anything major, like humongous splattered mud on the side, but he needed Mikaela to be impressed. And what impresses ladies who like vehicles more than a man driving them around in a clean and well-maintained truck?

He decided to stay inside as the cleaners manually scrubbed every inch of Optimus' armor. He only went outside when they were done to check if they didn't clean a part. He was impressed with the quality and the shine, partly because Optimus reflected more light than before. He paid them for their services, along with a pretty handsome tip, before driving out and fetching Mikaela from her house.

Sam grimaced as he knocked on the door of Mikaela's place, just across the garage where her father applied his skills in making custom choppers and modding vehicles. He started sweating bullets, and was scared further when Mikaela's father arrived to open the door.

'Oh, I see," Mikaela's father said before Sam could even utter a word. "My daughter's prospect partner has arrived."

He then called Mikaela, who was then currently preparing herself. Mikaela's father pulled Sam aside and started to give his rules for dating his daughter. "If you make Mikaela sad or disappointed, I am personally going to hunt you down and dissect you, slowly and painfully." Sam thought that Mikaela's father reminded him of Megatron, including the monologue, which was very similar to what Megatron said while pinning him down on a cold, makeshift "operating table".

But this time, he had to sacrifice and face the thought of being torn apart like the fried chicken he and Leo ate last time at Lennox's place. "Yes, sir," came Sam's polite and soft reply. Just in time, Mikaela came down the stairs, wearing an elegant black dress.

"Take care of my daughter!" Mikaela's father shouted as the two entered the truck. Sam gave Mikaela the flowers he had procured and the truck moved out.

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Needless to say, cruising on the road with Optimus went pretty smoothly. Mikaela was very impressed with Sam's effort, and was pleased with the white tulips he gave to her. Sam felt like he had just let go of a huge load, since Mikaela's father would no longer have a reason to rush to their dorm and dissect him like a frog.

Optimus parked in front of the dorm, this time, his holomatter avatar was the one driving. Sam went out of the cab. Optimus followed suit.

"Take care of yourself, Optimus. Thanks for the ride." Sam said, waving his hands. Optimus went back to the cab. "Thank you for the wash. Take care of yourself, Sam. Good night."

Sam entered the dorm. Leo was furiously typing on his laptop, which he promptly halted when Sam entered. Sam dumped his planner in the couch and reveled in the comfort of it. He asked, "Leo, where did you go this morning? You went on some weird extraterrestrial kitten calendar hunting trip?"

Leo stood up and took the power adaptor of his laptop. "I went on a good and simple road trip. Sideswipe was also bored, so I took him with me. He dropped me off, and then went straight for NEST headquarters. Where have you been?"

Sam thought it was prudent to keep the details of his relationship with Mikaela private, so he did not answer the question. He was slowly falling asleep on the couch when Leo made a statement that jolted him to full consciousness.

"You went on a date with Optimus, didn't you?"

The rest of the night was spent with Sam denying Leo's allegations and Leo making up counterarguments to support his insane theories.

THE END

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A/N: If anyone can show me a good animation of Optimus dancing the Caramelldansen, I would thank you from the bottom of my heart. For now, please review and rate! For those who wonder, the movie's Optimus has a holomatter avatar based on Peter Cullen, who in turn, voices Optimus in the movie.


End file.
